Time for the summer season up in the huts
Again this year, Air Zermatt will be spending the summer transporting material up to the various mountain huts in the region. This year’s season is already under way, and the first climbers are getting ready to tackle the challenging peaks of the Valais. We were there in the Weisshorn Hut, which sits at a height of 2,933 meters above sea level, during the final preparations.
The preparation process calls for careful coordination between pilot and task specialist when it comes to transporting the material, some of which is quite fragile. The “underload” transport flights involve moving equipment, furniture, food, cleaning materials, laundry and everything else that goes into running a mountain hut.
Air Zermatt transports the material to the Weisshorn hut
Thanks to the helicopter, the hut supply is guaranteed during the high season.
David Fux, Air Zermatt’s Deputy Chief Task Specialist, was responsible for holding this year’s refresher course, which saw hut wardens and task specialists come together to focus on the key details involved in transporting cargo.
“It’s important to make sure that all of the hut wardens are prepared for the summer season and are familiar with what goes on below the helicopter. Not only that – hut wardens also need to be instructed so that they, as a “task specialist third party”, can be allowed to attach and detach underloads. This is why the course is held ever year, and includes a theoretical and a practical part,” he explains.
Helicopters – the pack animals of the air
The hut wardens order the material they need for the huts with their supplier, who delivers it to a loading location agreed in advance. The task specialists inspect the goods and prepare them using nets or slings to ensure their safe transport to the mountain hut. This process must be especially swift in the case of perishable goods – swift, but not rushed, of course. Once the goods have been delivered, there is often waste, or perhaps mobile toilets, to be transported back down from the hut to the valley.
Air Zermatt serves a total of around a dozen mountain locations from its base in Zermatt, including the Monte Rosa Hut, Gandegg Hut, Hörnli Hut, Schönbiel Hut, Trift Mountain Inn, Edelweiss Restaurant, Rothorn Hut, Kin Hut, Weisshorn Hut, Europa Hut, Dom Hut, Topali Hut and Bordier Hut.
Jacqueline Rossé Berchtold has been running the Weisshorn Hut for five years now, since Luzius Kuster retired with a heavy heart in 2017 after 50 years. She benefits from the service provided by Air Zermatt to transport material of all kinds – including a large coffee machine – to be able to offer their guests a real Weisshorn coffee.
“We had around 1,100 overnight guests and were definitely feeling the strain by the end of the season”
Jacqueline is passionate about her role as a warden, and continues to enjoy the summer season high up in the mountains just as much as she did in the beginning: “It’s so much fun!” But the days are both long and challenging: “I’m up by 2 a.m., when the first climbers need their breakfast.” And once they set off into the darkness, Jaqueline gets to lie down for a while before the day starts in earnest at 6 a.m. “Then I’m on my feet non-stop, looking after the guests, and usually don’t get to bed before 10 p.m.”
The routine is the same every day, seven days a week. Last year in particular was a record-breaker for the team at the hut, which alongside Jacqueline also includes her husband Hanspeter, friends and family: “We had around 1,100 overnight guests and were definitely feeling the strain by the end of the season,” says Jacqueline with a grin.
“Not always this level of comfort”
This year, she adds, the preparations at almost 3,000 metres above sea level were a little more challenging than usual. The process was complicated by the snow that was still on the ground, and the fact that the glacier still hasn’t started to melt means they have no water. “Our water reserve is meltwater.”
But other than that the Weisshorn Hut is ready – the beds are made, the kitchen is stocked. Jacqueline is grateful for the infrastructure at her disposal: “The hut was renovated in 2020, and went from being a simple, rustic structure to a building with big rooms, good kitchen facilities and a lot more space. Not every mountain hut can offer that level of comfort.”
Some guests aren’t very tolerant when they first arrive, and tend to complain about the noise of the helicopter, she continues. But when she explains how the beer they’re holding made its way up to almost 3,000 meters above sea level, the situation usually looks quite different.
The Weisshorn Hut offers space for 30 people. The hut can be reached from Randa in just over four hours on foot, via a route with an elevation difference of around 1,500 meters. “It would be absolutely impossible to drag the material all that way,” says Jacqueline. And this explains her gratitude for the help of the helicopters.
The young at heart is most looking forward to the new encounters the summer will bring. The season finally opens this Saturday, when she’ll be welcoming her first guests of the year.
Air Zermatt maintains friendly relations with the mountain huts in Upper Valais and appreciates being part of the hut supply.
In the new blog series "The Valais Mountain Huts" you will find a portrait of the regional mountain huts. We show how the seasonal business runs, who is visiting the high alpine accommodations and what else is needed besides warm clothes and sun cream when the sun sets between the breathtaking four-thousand-meter peaks.
